


Unexplainable

by Adillard



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Romance, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25431628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adillard/pseuds/Adillard
Summary: Little Belmanes fic. Isobel is drawn to Gregory and he just gets her.Mostly Isobel/Gregory but with some Malex as well.
Relationships: Isabel Evans/Gregory Manes, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 7
Kudos: 82





	Unexplainable

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my phone as a WIP (yes totally written on my phone- yikes) for a very long time, so it just needed to get posted. I hope to write better Belmanes in the future, but please enjoy :)

This was bullshit. 

Isobel was officially annoyed. This was her first relationship with a woman and she was enjoying herself, honest to goodness she was. But she would be enjoying herself _more_ if Gregory Manes hadn’t come back. The sex with Leah was fantastic. Isobel knew for sure that she was _not_ straight. So why the hell was a man still occupying her every thought? It was those stupid Manes brothers and their stupid perfect faces.

She had this sort of naggingly familiar feeling about Gregory that she couldn’t really place. She decided that it must have been due to the fact that they'd briefly known each other in high school. Or really known _of_ each other. Either way, it irritated her.

Leah had been pissed at her since this morning, when she had overheard Michael on speakerphone telling Isobel that Gregory would be at the bar tonight. “Keep your drool in your mouth and your dick in your pants,” he had told her and Isobel had rolled her eyes before telling him that was her line and he could go fuck himself. Was she seriously that transparent? It wasn’t her fault that months ago she and Gregory had teamed up on Project Fix Alex and Michael and had spent a bunch of nights drinking together at the Pony and luring their bone head brothers to just _be in love_ _already_ , damnit, when she had learned that Gregory was kind and sensitive and funny and smart. It wasn’t her fault that their last interaction had been when Alex and Michael had dragged Gregory to Planet 7 for a night out and they had basically been drawn to each other all night. She had still gone back to Leah’s that night, hadn’t she?! She had still fucked Leah’s brains out, even if she had been picturing Gregory the whole time! 

After Isobel had hung up with Michael this morning, Leah had yelled. Then she had left. 

It wasn’t that Isobel wasn’t happy, she truly was! It was just that Leah felt _fun_ and something deep inside her told her that Gregory Manes would be deeper than that. She wasn’t ready for that, yet, if he even felt the same way about her. She just wished he didn’t make her all confused and “drooly.”

That’s how she entered the Wild Pony tonight: feeling confused, slightly annoyed and seriously sassy. It was made worse by the fact that the first thing she saw was Michael, draped over his boyfriend’s back while they stood at the bar. It was like he was expecting Alex to hold all of his weight. As she neared closer, she could see that Michael’s face was also buried in Alex’s neck while Alex was talking to Max behind the bar. She rolled her eyes and stalked up to the bar next to them.

“Seriously, Michael, we get it. The whole of Roswell knows he’s yours. It is old news at this point, you don’t have to stake your claim,” she chided, rolling her eyes at him. 

He lifted his head briefly and gave her a look, his eyebrows raised. “Jealous, much?”

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” she scoffed.

“Where’s Leah?” Max asked.

Isobel made a face. “Ask your brother and his big mouth.”

Michael didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed, he just shrugged and huddled ever closer into Alex, wrapping an arm around Alex’s waist tightly. “Don’t put me on speaker next time,” he mumbled. 

Alex grabbed at Michael’s forearm and stroked at it absently. “Michael just has this theory about Alien soulmates and the Manes DNA. I keep reminding him that your mom didn’t fall in love with a Manes-"

“That’s not the point. It’s about Manes DNA being compatible with Aliens, making it easy to form a cosmic bond-"

“Enough! Seriously, Michael, I have a _girlfriend_!”

“You guys might want to stop arguing and grab your table before someone else steals it,” Max chimed in, interrupting them. 

Michael peeled himself off of Alex’s back with a petulant whine and Alex chuckled. Together, they made their way to their favorite table. Max followed behind with all of their regular drinks and they all spared a quick glance of acknowledgment at Kyle and Steph as they joined them. 

“Saw Greg is back in town. Is he coming tonight?” Kyle asked Alex.

Alex took a drink and nodded. “Yeah, actually. He is going to be staying with us for a few days while he looks for a place of his own. He got a job at the elementary school.”

“’Staying with us'?” Gregory repeated to Alex in question, as he joined the table and sat down.

Everyone exchanged hellos and Isobel took time to admire the physical beauty that was Gregory Manes. When he caught her eye, she checked her facial features and tried to put them back to neutral-annoyed. She straightened in her seat and met his gaze, one eyebrow raised. He smiled at her and she felt her face soften involuntarily. She was fucked.

“Well, with Michael and I,” Alex answers, bringing Isobel back to the present. 

Gregory nodded and broke eye contact with her, looking over to glance between Alex and Michael. “I guess I hadn’t realized you’d moved in together.”

Was she the only one to notice the way Gregory’s face looked hurt for a moment? Honestly, he and Isobel had spent weeks pushing these boys back together, so it would be hurtful if they made that big of a decision without telling him. 

Alex shook his head slightly, looking nervous. He glanced at Michael and then back at Gregory. “No, we haven’t, I don’t really know why I said it like that I just-"

“It just kinda happened. Nothing official. It’s not like I need a key,” Michael said, pointing at his own head with a wink, and Isobel wondered if anyone else saw that Michael had put his hand on Alex’s knee under the table and squeezed. 

Kyle and Steph started talking with Gregory and with the table distracted, Isobel noticed Alex turn to face Michael and whisper something under his breath. Michael’s face softened and whatever he said back made Alex’s shoulders lose all tension. Their foreheads pressed together lightly as they spoke quietly to each other and the ache in Isobel’s chest seemed to grow to an uncomfortable level. She was happy for them. Like _so fucking_ happy. But there were just some nights that her envious heart couldn’t stand it. She stood up and made her way to the bar. 

Max watched her approach from behind the bar and he read her pretty quickly. He grabbed a shot glass and poured her a shot of vodka, sliding over to her. She smiled in thanks and tipped her head back, downing it and then pushing the glass forward to signal another. Max poured more in, smiled at someone behind her shoulder, and then left the bottle and walked away. She was feeling so thankful that he knew her well enough to know that she did not want discuss her mood with anyone other than this shot glass.

“I know we worked hard for it, but it can be too intense to watch, sometimes, right?” 

Isobel turned her head to find none other than Gregory Manes standing next to her, moving to lean against the bar. He was eyeing her shot with his eyebrow raised in question. 

“What can?” she asked. 

“Michael and Alex. It’s like you are intruding on something too special. Especially when you are single, watching them is-"

“I’m not single. I have a girlfriend.” Isobel downed another shot and let her head fall forward, her shoulders hunched up and elbows resting on the bar. 

“Oh, shit, yeah, Leah. Right, sorry.” She could practically hear the surprise in his voice. “I just meant that they are so in love that it can be hard to watch if you have never experienced it before. Like, for me. I didn’t mean to imply…I mean I didn’t mean to speak for you-"

“I used to be the one in love,” she interrupted. She sat up more straight, poured herself another shot, and took it. “For 10 years, I was the one in a happy relationship while both of my brothers were drowning in how much they missed their _cosmic_ loves.”

Gregory was silent for a moment, watching her profile. 

“But mine was a lie. I don’t have a cosmic love. I'll never know what that feels like.” Another shot.

Next to her, Gregory signaled at the bartender who was closest to them. She had long dark hair and glasses and she was wearing her tank top low to reveal cleavage. He thanked her for the shot of whiskey and he turned back to Isobel, raising his glass. “To never being cosmic.”

She smiled softly and clinked her shot glass to his. “To never being cosmic.”

She watched his perfectly sculpted face and his full lips and the way his throat worked as he downed his shot and she felt her pulse quicken. _Fuck_. She had to break up with Leah.

-

  
“Isobel, hey!” 

Isobel looked up from her phone and glanced around the diner to find who had called her name. Gregory was approaching her booth with a smile. A fucking beautiful smile. She had to blink a few times and swallow to let her heart calm down. Seriously, what was the deal with her body’s reaction to this man?

“Gregory, hi. Here for the churro pancakes, too? They really are delicious,” she motioned down at her half-eaten plate of pancakes as he sat down across from her.

He smiled. “No, I just came to grab a donut and some coffee, but I was hoping to run into you at some point. I found a place and Alex said you might be able to help me decorate? Make it feel a little bit more lived in and less like a lonely bachelor who works more than he tries to have a social life?”

Isobel smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he mentioned that to me, too. Shopping on someone else’s dime? Always a favorite past time for me. When do you move in?”

“This Friday. I’m still crashing at Alex and Michael’s until then so that I don’t have to commute when school starts on Monday.”

Isobel could feel her face soften. “Why don’t we plan on meeting up on Saturday, then. We can go into Santa Fe and walk around some of the furniture and home décor so that I can get a better sense of your style and preferences. It's far, but it has the most variety for us to start with. And then I can take it from there.”

“Saturday. Sounds good. What time should I plan on?” he asked.

“I’ll text you my address and you can pick me up at 9.” 

He nodded with an almost shy smile. Almost. “9am. It’s a date. See you Saturday, Isobel Evans.”

-

  
Isobel spent that entire week researching the Navajo reservation and its traditional designs and décor. On Wednesday night, she texted Gregory a photo of a red and turquoise color scheme, writing, _How do you feel about an accent wall?_

He had written back: _I feel like you’re the expert, Isobel. Paint my walls, if you want to. Hell, tear them down. Whatever you want._

And her heart did a funny thing, so she didn’t write back. She also tried not notice the butterflies in her stomach every time she thought of Saturday. She had barely ever spoken to this man. Why did she have such big reactions to even just the thought of him?

On Saturday at exactly 8:58am, there was a knock at her door. She checked herself in the mirror one last time, running a hand over her hair and taking a deep breath, before she answered it. He stood there, clearly a little nervous, in a T-shirt and jeans, his hands in his pockets. Her stomach flipped. 

“Right on time, Sailor,” she noted. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her, heading for his truck. 

“Hard habit to break,” he told her, following her to his truck and getting in the driver’s seat. 

The drive was unsurprisingly comfortable. It reminded her of the easy nights they had spent at the Wild Pony all those months ago. They talked about their jobs and their brothers and a little bit about Liz leaving and how Max was handling it. It seemed like Alex and Michael had filled him in on a lot of things. 

“So, they tell you about me, then? About…um about Noah?” she asked.

He glanced away from the road for a minute to look at her. He shook his head, his face soft. “Not really,” he said quietly. “They said it was your story to tell.”

Isobel turned her head to stare out of her window, gathering her thoughts. Why did that make her so emotional? How did she get so lucky to have these wonderful men in her life? 

After a moment, she cleared her throat and turned her attention to the radio, letting the conversation turn light again as she made Gregory a victim of her shameless Taylor Swift addiction. 

-

  
Two stores in and Isobel felt like she knew Gregory’s style. They both were hungry, so they agreed on a small pizza joint for lunch. Once the pizza was gone, they were stayed huddled in a corner booth together, talking and sharing stories. 

“He would have done anything. I swear he was about to dye his hair blue if Alex hadn’t put him out of his misery,” Isobel laughed. “I kind of wish your brother had waited just a week longer!”

Gregory laughed and the sound was like music. It vibrated in her chest. Her laugh slowed and she knew the smile was still on her lips. She wondered if he could see what she was feeling by the look on her face.

“Why’d you come back to Roswell? I mean, why now and not, like, 3 years ago?” she asked, hearing her voice become more serious but knowing that her smile was still in place. 

He tracked her face with his eyes, a light smile on his own. “For Alex. I was a…uh…I was a shit brother. And with our dad gone, it just sort of feels like there's no reason to not go where Alex is anymore.”

“You leave anyone behind?”

“I had a girlfriend for a while, back on the Res. She…um…broke it off with me right after everything happened with my dad, when I started talking about moving out here. She didn’t have any siblings, so it felt like she didn't really ever get it.”

“I think it's hard for people to understand, sometimes. Wanting to do anything you can to protect your brothers. Michael gave up everything to protect me.” Her voice was almost a whisper by the end. 

She looked up, startled, when she felt his hand close over hers on the table. She had expected to find pity on his face, but instead he was wearing an expression that was almost…proud? Determined? 

“If I know Guerin at all, I’d guess he would say it was completely worth it. To keep you safe.”

Who the fuck was this man? 

-

  
They had only gone to one more store, before Isobel had insisted they could head back to Roswell. She really had all the information she needed to totally kill it at designing his home perfectly. The drive back was more quiet than before. She was stuck in her head, all foggy from being around him for too long. 

“Thank you for doing this, Isobel. Today was like…really nice,” Gregory said, pulling her out of her head. 

She looked at him for a moment and let her eyes linger on his profile. For some reason, she was struck with the desire to tell him. Everything. And it was always easier to talk when the other person wasn’t looking at you. That was the appeal of laying your soul bare at night in the darkness. You didn’t have to deal with the pressure of the other person’s eyes on you. This was similar. He had to keep his eyes on the road, after all. 

“Noah was my husband,” she started. She was still staring at him. Almost gauging his reaction. “For 8 years. And he was a good husband. Attentive and caring. Understanding of my weirdly strong relationship with both of my brothers. And I miss those times with him. I feel like I’m not supposed to, like I’m supposed to hate everything about him- every memory. But I don’t. But the thing is, it was all a lie. Not just on his part- not just because he was an alien and he used my body to do terrible things to others- but also on my part. I could never be myself with him. I could never show him the parts of me that aren’t so pretty. And that was exhausting. This past year since he's been gone, I’ve been trying to rebuild. Figure out who I am and take back control of myself and my life, but especially of my relationships. He had complete control, even if I didn’t know it at the time. And I won’t let that happen again.” 

There was silence for a long time. And then Gregory finally said, “I think that’s got to be healing- for you to have the control in your relationships right now. The ball should just always be in your court. Until you’re ready to share it again. To trust someone to let them take the reigns, sometimes. I think it’s fair that you would have total control for a while, if not forever.”

She blinked and swallowed hard, feeling tears building in her eyes. “Maybe not forever. Maybe just for now.”

They settled into comfortable silence again. After a while, Gregory glanced quickly over at her for a moment.

“Do you think it’s possible that aliens, like, imprint on humans? I mean I know that's some backwards SciFi bullshit, but I can’t stop thinking about actual soulmates.” He started to list them off, using his fingers to count. “My Uncle Tripp with Michael’s mom, your mom with Roy Bronson, Max and Liz, Michael and Alex. I know it sounds crazy, but even Noah seemed to latch onto Rosa. It's like aliens fall hard and they never are able to let go. Do you think that could be true?”

She didn’t answer. How could she? If it was true, what did that mean for her?

-

  
The rest of the drive had been uneventful. She had spent the night at home, eating takeout and drinking wine in her bathtub while trying to figure out why and how she was so drawn to this particular brand of Manes men. Was it like he said? Did they have, like, soulmates? And if so, did the way she felt about Gregory mean he was hers? 

But that didn’t make much sense, because wouldn’t they have connected in high school then? She just needed to sleep on it.

-

  
The following Saturday found Isobel at Gregory’s house, directing traffic for the furniture delivery men. She was seriously out-doing herself. This house looked fucking awesome. She wasn’t done yet, but she had painted accent walls in the living room and master bedroom while Gregory had been at work that week. She had gotten bedding and rugs to compliment everything. The sofa, dining table, and bedroom furniture for the Master and guest rooms were really the finishing touches, save for a few more wall hangings and art she wanted to add but hadn’t found the perfect ones yet. 

She and Gregory had texted every day that week, not just about the house but also about life. He would text her little stories of funny things one of his students had done and she would text him stupid things Michael said or did that made her laugh. He texted her one night when he couldn’t sleep, and she had confided that she had nightmares, too. Hers were of the Noah variety. His were of manipulative monsters as well. 

The night before, her phone had rung just after 11. Surprised, she had answered. “Do you get lonely?” he had asked, his voice rough and deep and hitting her right in the chest and vibrating out to her extremities. 

“Sometimes. Mostly at night,” she had answered quietly.

“Yeah,” he had whispered back. “Me, too.” 

And they had agreed to get dinner that night after the deliveries. So that they could be alone together. 

She really was having a hard time understanding what was holding her back from just diving in with this truly beautiful human being. But that night, when they were standing in the kitchen doing the dishes and she threw the towel down and threw herself at him, she understood what had taken her so long. Because the moment she felt his lips against hers, she realized that Gregory Manes was wouldn’t just be a part of her story. He was her cosmic ending.

-

  
“Why didn’t you tell me it was like that?” Isobel asked Michael over breakfast the following week.

He screwed up his face in question as he took another bite of his loaded hashbrowns.

“The whole _cosmic_ thing,” she said, singsonging the word ‘cosmic' like it was stupid. “I didn’t know it could be like that-" she put her hand over her heart, “in here.”

A smile grew and took over Michael’s whole face. He looked up at her, considering. “It’s hard to explain to other people.”

“You have felt this way since we were teenagers?” she asked.

He shrugged one shoulder up. “Since I was 17. I mean, we went through a lot of pain over the years, yeah. But the, uh, the calm feeling? In your chest? Like you found the person who makes you whole? Like that person understands you down to your core? Yeah, since I was 17.”

Isobel’s heart clenched a little. She wiped at the tear that had threatened to fall and reached her hand across the table to squeeze his.

“Everything okay?” Alex asked when he walked over to their table. He nudged at Michael until he moved over in the booth to make room.

Gregory was behind him, moving to sit beside Isobel. They shared a quiet look and then he kissed her softly. “Hi,” he whispered. Her face lit up.

“Yeah,” Michael told Alex, smiling at his sister, “I think so.”


End file.
